Jerusalem, Augusta Victoria Survey

Zubair ‘Adawi, Leticia Barda and Bilal Touri

05/10/2008

Final Report

In October 2006, a survey was conducted within the Augusta Victoria compound (Permit No. A-4915*; map ref. NIG 63245–95/22330–90; OIG 13245–95/17330–90), prior to construction. The survey, carried out on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the World Lutheran Federation, was performed by Z. ‘Adawi, B. Touri and L. Barda (GPS).

The area along the northern spur of the Mount of Olives and the eastern, southern and western slopes of Mount Scopus was surveyed (Fig. 1).

Eighteen sites that could not be dated were documented. These included the poorly preserved remains of water channels (1, 10, 17), quarries and rock-cut installations (2–6, 14–16), cave openings and the remains of another cave (18), a modern water reservoir with a vault, built of dressed stones and fed by an aqueduct that was partly built and partly bedrock hewn (9, 10), a well whose opening was dug into the ground and lined with fieldstones (13) and an ex situ concentration of tesserae (12).

The sites were covered with alluvium, which made it difficult to identify them. A few potsherds that date to the Roman, Byzantine and Mamluk periods were found in the surveyed area, particularly in its western part.